West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-03-18

,be.wristen,a9d thousandgs of instan
ces cited to prove what werhere say
if space permitted.
Now, to apply these facts to the
caucus at Charleston. How stand
the IL ..Kickersg' They stand as
model .Jeffersonian Democrats and
patriots. A patriot is man who
resists the Establishments of great
wealth and power and serves the
masses without reward.
Should these IL have acted con-
trary to their judgment? Thomas
Jefferson once said: No legislator
has any right to do that, the propri-
ETY. OF which he is conscientious'y
doubtful Could the Kickers have
had any doubt of the propriety of
going into caucus when they well
knew a majority of that caucus was
already pledged to Camden? Could
they go into it when so large a ma
iority of their constituents were OPP
posed TO Mr.. Camden's reelection?
They were directly or indirectly
pledged not to vote for him. Did
they not know that he had sent hum
dreds of dollars to candidates for
the Legislature previous to the cleo
ton? Did they not know that this
money would have been sent to the
executive committee instead of to
the candidate were it not intenied
to influence his conduct after the
election? Would this money have
been sent to candidates openly, pub
licly and in the sunlight of criti
cism? Does it not strike every in
telligent man that for millionaire
candidate for the Senate to thus
send moeey privately to u person
likely to be in the Legislature is, to
say the least, moral bribery? Is Mr..
Camden willing to publish list Of
the persons to whom he sent money?
Would this secrecy be maintained if
the act was proper? Is it safe to
have in the Senate man who Sc
cretly sends money to candidates for
a legislature? 1t is admitted he did
so. Did the II do right to prevent
his election? Is it any answer to
cry out BOLTER and PARTY
USAGE?
A subsidized press may refuse to
publish these things, but they are
known to the people. We can UNI
derstand why an individual is I'M
willing to bring against himself the
antagonism of the powerful infncn-
ces represented by Mr.. Camden. We
can understand why newspaper
may be afraid to incur the hostility
Of Mr.. Camden and the influences
behind him. We constantly see men
who think right and who do right,
but who are too poor TO add to their
burden by publicly expressing opin-
ions which would bring against
them the hostility of the class rep
resented by Mr.. Camden. We I'm
darstand these things, but we can
not understand why Mr.. Camden's
managers should be such fools as to
suppose that these things are kept
from the people simply because they
are excluded from the papers. 1t is
said that the ostrich fancies itself
safe when its head is hid in the
sand, although its body (big as a
Darrell is exposed to full view. The
ostrich is not so foolish as these
managers, if they imagine newspa-
per silence will prevent the people
from knowing and from talking
about such facts as are here pub
lished. They are being discussed
at every country store in the State,
and they are discussed the more
earnestly because people observe
that they are kept out Of the papers.
Depend upon it, West Virginia
voters will no longer submit to the
methods of the millionaire monocra
cy. Depend upon it, there are in
this State many honest people who
cannot be bought, hired or bulldozed
and there are enough of them to
save the Democracy. The press may
continue to pour out its black tor
rents Of fetid ribaldry upon every
citizen who asserts his manhood, but
it will not strengthen the cause OF
the class represented by Mr.. Cam
den. He may gother about him the
men whose poverty compels them to
feed on the crumbs that fall from
his table; he may gather about him
the venal and corrupt, and he may
silence the timid and the faint
hearted, but he will never subdue
that spirit of independence which is
the very essence of Democracy.
True patriotism, like Truth, cannot
he downed and kept down.